MESSAGE FROM OUR CEO – JANUARY 2019

INDEPENDENT SMALL BUSINESS TAX APPEAL SYSTEM: An article was published by Robert Gottliebsen in The Australian on 29.11.18 under the heading ‘’Morrison government takes steps to remove tax blight’ (copied below), in which the report states in part: “Under the government plan, appeals now go to a dedicated Small Business Taxation Division within the Administrative Appeals Tribunal — totally separate from the ATO. Each small business will have a case manager supporting them through the entire process. This is really important, and decisions will be fast-tracked to be made within 28 days.”

On behalf of small business, we wish to commend the Government for taking the momentus step in introducing the independent small business appeals system.

We join with Robert Gottliebsen in acknowledging those who he has named in his article that played a significant role in achieving this important outcome for small business. In particular, we acknowledge Self-Employed Australia CEO Ken Phillips for his untiring and dedicated pursuit of the independent small business appeals system.

Additinally, we support Robert Gottliebsen’s call for the ALP and the crossbenchers to do the right thing by the nation by supporting the Government’s legislation for the introduction of the independent small business appeals system. Unfortunately, The Australian, December 6, 2018 reported: “It is a good policy and the Alp should have endorsed it and made it an addition to their own mechanism. Instead, they rejected it.”

RTO TRAINING: Concerns in WA industries are that attempts by private RTOs to change the Apprenticeship Certificate III. Young West Australians competing for work placements and jobs with inexperienced tradespeople are entirely valid – that however may change in some industries with the resurgence in the mining sector.

For Registered trades, the registration process is unique to Western Australia and has built-in provisos so that standards are maintained to the highest level within the industry.

An area of concern is with respect to international students or anyone dependent on a temporary work visa, has not been good. There have been many instances of worker exploitation in the hospitality area, fruit picking, security to name a few. Persons coming into industries, looking for work with lesser qualifications could find themselves at a disadvantage which leaves them open to accepting compromised employment opportunities.

Therefore, attempts by private RTOs to influence an entire industry by turning what is currently a 4-year full time course into what in essence will only represent 25% of that time, will be the equivalent of issuing a 1st year apprentice with a full qualification and should not be supported.

However, an article published in The Weekend West headed ‘Home Affairs crackdown on foreign rorts’ states that “the Government was undertaking a holistic review of all visa programs.”, which will hopefully address the problem with the private RTOs.